Change and an Absolute Sense of Okay-ness — Let’s Go with Complete Relaxation

The anxiety and fear that come with change

are not obstacles to be overcome.

They are essential elements

at the very core of the human experience.

What becomes clear through sonomama practice is this:

the very effort to eliminate anxiety and fear

is what traps us

in tension and resistance.

That is why this practice ultimately leads to

“this was enough,”

“everything is already here”—

an absolute sense of okay-ness.

Because all there is

is the way things are right now.

More precisely, that is all there ever is.

The moment we sincerely allow anxiety and fear to be here,

something unexpected happens:

the anxiety and fear themselves begin to soften.

What a paradox.

The year 2026 may become

a time of great upheaval,

as things once believed to be unchanging

begin to shift one after another.

Change is already appearing

as concrete and fundamental transformation.

Such external changes inevitably affect our lives

and stir anxiety and fear.

Yet no matter what happens in the outer world,

this absolute sense of okay-ness

exists on an entirely different dimension.

The vector of change is not

from the outside to the inside.

It is from the inside to the outside.

Because the world is a mirror

of what lives within us.

What we truly seek

is not the temporary reassurance that comes from acquiring something.

It is an absolute sense of okay-ness

that does not depend on circumstances.

And this absolute sense of okay-ness

requires complete relaxation.

So loosen your grip—just a little.

Take a deep breath.

Just as you are, say to yourself, “It’s okay.”

As long as the body cannot relax,

this okay-ness cannot be fully felt.

And precisely because we do not feel okay,

the body tightens.

To see clearly that all there is

is the way things are right now.

To recognize that this very moment—just this—is everything.

All there is

is the fact of this moment.

When this truly lands,

we recognize,

“this is who I am,”

and that this existence itself

is already complete.

The need to strive for something,

or to become someone else,

falls away at its root.

Resistance and tension dissolve naturally,

and the body and mind begin to rest

at a deep level.

From an absolute sense of okay-ness,

we feel safe enough

to shout,

to cry,

to feel anger.

After all,

we are human.

Whipped cream snow

Words and photo by K E I K O